John Garon has been working with long standing client Russell Hobbs again recently, this time shooting for their 2018 Autumn/Winter campaign, commissioned by Ponderosa.

Shot on location in Herefordshire over three days John captured these beautiful images of a family enjoying a country work, cooking together in the kitchen and then all sitting down for a evening meal.

LPA food and drink photographer Tim Atkins has been collaborating with food stylist Iain Graham recently on an amazing new project.

Tim and Iain created this project upon discovering the following facts;

– Each year, 8 million tons of plastic enter our oceans; that is equivalent to dumping a truckload of plastics into the ocean every minute.

– Plastics in the ocean do not biodegrade but rather break into smaller and smaller pieces. When combined with microplastics such as microbeads in personal care products, the majority of plastics in the ocean are less than 5 millimetres in size (less than 1/4 inch).

– Microplastics and the chemicals that attach to them in the water can contaminate the food chain, including seafood products eaten by people.

Moved by these facts, Tim and Iain worked together on this project to bring attention to this global problem in an interesting and engaging way!

The aim here was to capture beautiful seafood that we eat on regular basis as well as highlighting the growing problem of plastic pollution in our oceans, as this affects both the marine life living in the ocean, and also the seafood we eat!

The images are bold, colourful and appealing but on closer inspection you notice that not all the ingredients look quite right!

The beautiful images will be displayed at the ‘Pass on Plastic Pop Up’ on beak street and open to the public as of tomorrow, organised by Project 0!

Ask an Agent is a regular monthly feature answering your questions about the business of photography – the photography industry’s first Agony Aunt!

If you have any questions you’d like to ask a photographers agent please send them to hello@lisapritchard.com. Questions can be on anything to do with the photography business, such as photoshoots, marketing, professional practice, pricing, contracts, legal stuff – anything.

Dear Ask an Agent,

I want to try and get an agent, should I show them my commissioned work or personal projects?

Honestly speaking, you are going to be more appealing to an agent if you have a proven track record of commissions. As much as we love looking at stunning pictures from talented photographers, we are running businesses and need to be instilled with confidence that clients will commission your type of photography. There is more of a guarantee that you are going to be regularly in demand for commercial commissions if you have already built a reputation and are a known name in the industry, so many jobs are commissioned on familiarity and trust.

Aside from that there is a huge added value to an agent if a photographer has realistic expectations of the industry and knows the in’s and out’s of the shoot process, from initial enquiry to delivering the images (and all that is likely to happen along the way!). This can only really come from having a regular track record of commissioned shoots, but boy does it make our lives as an agent easier!

Don’t go too overboard though, I think I’d actually rather see a portfolio full of personal projects than a book of commissions! Who wants to see a book full of someone else’s ideas, conceived and art directed by someone else? Personally, I find this frustrating as I then struggle to grasp the essence of the photographer. We want to know what inspires them, what sets them apart, what’s their unique take on the world. A great personal project fast tracks recognition, little or no personal projects can give a message that the photographer lacks the passion and imagination to shoot their own ideas. Besides, so many amazing commissions are inspired by photographers personal projects.

Promoting your personal work also allows you to remain in control of the direction you are going in creatively. Photographers generally get commissioned based on the images they define themselves by and choose to show the world. So 5 years down the line you are going to end up being commissioned to shoot images based on other peoples visions and ideas, not your own if you aren’t careful.

The perfect portfolio is a mixture of both where you can’t see the join!

But please, be original! Don’t jump on bandwagons and do try to make your work unique. Don’t forget that agents and art buyers, and all the other influential people that can potentially give you a big break, see countless portfolios (or websites) every week. Often I notice the same repeated themes and it is a bit of a turn off. I asked the wonderful Ben Cole, guru of the art buying world and Visual Director at VCCP what he thought too, I love what he had to say and 100% agree!!

‘I would say test constantly, keep shooting arresting images, you are always commissioned for your eye, your personal work, not just the brands you have worked on. Find a project to work on, but research it very carefully as we have all seen plenty of stories on travelers, boxing gyms, surfers and poor Martin Parr observational copies.’

Whether you’re a creative director or a student, a photographer or a designer, an art buyer or an assistant, if you have any questions you’d like to ask a photographers agent please send them to hello@lisapritchard.com and we’ll answer as many as we can!

Please Note:

We reserve the right not to enter into ongoing correspondence.

We reserve the right not to answer all questions sent to Ask an Agent.

Please state whether you would like to remain anonymous.

This advice should be taken as a guide only.

Lisa Pritchard, LPA and guest bloggers take no responsibility for any omissions or errors.

The images used in this article are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily correlate with specific facts or examples cited in the text.

LPA photographer Paul Tait has been busy recently jetting all over the world for shoots recently, including Paris and New York!

He has also been working with agency, Superunion, a little closer to home. Shooting in a new development in Stratford, Paul and the team at Productions Inc and Superunion worked together on one of the hottest days in June to capture these lifestyle images for the client, Get Living.

Capturing real Get Living employees in the apartments owned by the residential company, the images capture real people and families enjoying the properties.

Andy Smith has been continuing a personal project recently, capturing images of local restaurants, including the owners who set them up and the employees who ensure they run smoothly day to day.

This time Andy has been capturing images at St. John restaurants. Shooting in both the St. John Spitalfield’s restaurant (Bread and Wine) and Smithfield restaurant (St. John Smithfield Market restaurant), Andy spent a very hungry morning in each location.

Capturing both restaurants as they were preparing for service, Andy shot a mixture of portraits and images documenting what was happening in the kitchens, bakeries and restaurants. The owner of the restaurants, Fergus Henderson, who Andy captured in these images (wearing the blue suit) is widely recognised for starting nose-to-tail cooking, which gives creative chefs the opportunity to have a positive impact on how we eat and reduces food waste.

Andy says that as well as the chefs at St. John helping to solve problems related to food waste the food also tastes amazing!

LPA photographer Nick David has been in shooting in picturesque Scotland again recently for Standard Life, commissioned by Emperor Design.

This time shooting in Loch Voil in Balquhidder, (which incidentally is the final resting place of Rob Roy) Nick and the team worked together to capture these stunning images. Shooting in his signature, uplifting and genuine style, Nick captured these images of people swimming in the Loch, paddle boarding, camping and generally enjoying the outdoors.

Nick and the crew were exceptionally lucky with the weather and everyone on set worked together to create these beautiful images, assistant Alex Ingram even put his rowing skills to good use!

Travelling all over the UK, Patrick captured a selection of real life stories for this years CRUK annual review shoot. It’s Patrick’s fifth year of working with the famous charity, and as he has done in previous years, he has done a splendid job!

Patrick says that his highlights from this years’s shoot ‘were a marvellous day spent fly fishing on the river Tees with John from Middlesbrough and getting messy doing chemistry experiments with Jasper in his living room.’

In the five years that Patrick has been working with the charity, visiting the homes of people affected by cancer, he says that he feels lucky to be able to work on these projects and that he enjoyed, once again, spending time with some truly inspiring and determined people.